"It's a Revco World, today."
— Linger Ficken' Good
— Linger Ficken' Good
Concrete, Bulletproof, Invisible and Fried: My Life As a Revolting Cock is, well, Chris Connelly's memoir of his time as a member of the Revolting Cocks in the late 1980s and early 1990s.
The book begins in 1985, when Connelly is first introduced to Al Jourgensen and is invited to join the Revolting Cocks. Much hilarity and intoxication ensue.
Concrete, Bulletproof, Invisible and Troped:
- Addled Addict: By 1992, Al has become one, having previously been a Functional Addict.
- Affectionate Nickname: Grumpy and Party, for Richard H. Kirk and Stephen Mallinder of Cabaret Voltaire respectively.
- Chris is dubbed "Pinky" by Al because of the way his face turns pink when he laughs too hard.
- Alcohol-Induced Idiocy: Indeed. It gets worse as you go.
- All Drummers Are Animals: Averted — Bill Rieflin is actually one of the saner Cocks and as belligerent as Martin Atkins gets, he doesn't fit the stereotype, either.
- All There in the Manual: Working knowledge of Post-Punk, Industrial and Industrial Metal musicians is pretty much required reading for this book to make any sense. And even that might not be enough.
- The Alleged Car: Paul Barker's van, Icky.
- Bad Boss: Al can be a big one, at times.
- Beleaguered Assistants:
- Whether Paul Barker and Bill Rieflin count as this to Al or as the Hyper-Competent Sidekicks depends on who you ask.
- Sean Joyce during two Ministry and Revolting Cocks tours, especially toward Martin Atkins.
- Big Fun: The always good-natured Luc van Acker.
- Bittersweet Ending: Moreso than a Downer Ending because of the tiny Hope Spot.
- Boisterous Bruiser: Al Jourgensen, most prominently, who is also most definitely Hot-Blooded.
- Brutal Honesty: Steve Albini's specialty.
- Bullying a Dragon: Phildo Owen's decision to provoke truckers over the CB radio.
- Butt-Monkey: Reid Hyams, owner of the Trax recording studio.
- By coincidence, an awful lot of bad things also happen to Mark Durante: he gets arrested in Houston for throwing a rock at a police car and gets left behind on tour by accident.
- Cerebus Syndrome: About halfway through the book, this kicks-in as drug addiction and personality conflicts start to drive everyone apart. It reaches an apex around 1993, around the time that Jeff Ward killed himself.
- Chicago: Home of WaxTrax
- Cloud Cuckoolander: Virtually everyone to a greater or lesser degree. For instance:
- Paul and Bill are both found of trading non-sequiturs back and forth. Both are odd, but still fairly level-headed.
- Cluster F-Bomb: Too many to name.
- The Comically Serious: Richard "23" Jonckheere, by virtue of his Small Name, Big Ego behavior.
- Deadpan Snarker: Steve Albini and Jim Nash.
- Disgusting Public Toilet: It wouldn't be a road story without one.
- The Ditz: Terry Bones, El Duce, and most of Phildo's friends."[Terry was] perhaps one rung up the genetic ladder from a garden fence."
- Dreadful Musician: The Mentors, a band toured with the Revolting Cocks in 1990 and were fronted by the incredibly stupid El Duce.
- Driven to Suicide: Jeff Ward and William Tucker, as well as one of Chris' girlfriends, Tracey.
- Dude, Not Funny!: Connelly's reaction to Cocked and Loaded's numerous off-color jokes.
- Eagleland: Connelly is from Scotland and his portrayal of the United States falls into Type III.
- Eerie Pale-Skinned Brunette: It's to be expected: Al, Ogre, Chris, Tucker, Mike Scaccia, Mark Durante, Michael Balch, Trent Reznor... Actually, on second thought, it would probably be easier to list the people who aren't Eerie Pale-Skinned Brunettes.
- The '80s: Setting of the first 1/3 of the book
- Everyone Calls Him "Barkeep": The female bassist on the second Pigface tour is simply known as "the female bass player."
- Four-Temperament Ensemble: Al is Choleric, Paul is Sanguine, Bill is Melancholic, Chris is Phlegmatic.
- Freudian Trio: Al is The McCoy, Paul is The Kirk, Bill is The Spock.
- The Friend Nobody Likes: The female bassist on the second Pigface tour.
- Also, Terry Bones for, among other things, sexually assaulting a fan and nearly getting everyone arrested and picking fights with other band members for no particular reason.
- Funetik Aksent:"We had no toime to seenk about it!!!""VOT EES THEES I AM HEARIIIING??!!!!" Sascha roared down the length of the bus.
- Gentle Giant: Jolly, the nearly 7 foot foot tour manager on the Mind Is a Terrible Thing to Taste Tour. Paul Barker, as well, who is 6'4".
- Gender-Blender Name: Mary Byker
- Going Cold Turkey: Averted—Al apparently tries once, and it doesn't work out so well. Justified, as he was withdrawing from heroin.
- Gonzo Journalism: Possibly unintentional, but yes.
- Goth: Quite a few of them, both of the Perky and Gloomy variety.
- Hair-Trigger Temper: Al has a tendency to fly into a rage at the slightest provocation.
- Hero of Another Story: Nivek Ogre, Jello Biafra, and Trent Reznor are the most obvious examples, though the same could be said for pretty much everyone in the book.
- Industrial Metal: Duh.
- Intrepid Reporter: Jason Pettigrew of the Alternative Press who accompanied the Revolting Cocks on a tour.
- Is It Always Like This?: There's no better example than Chris' second visit to the United States, when he comes in to find Al wearing a Viking helmet, sitting on a rowing machine and cussing someone out over the phone.
- Jerk with a Heart of Gold: Steve Albini, though he'd probably resent not being given full Jerkass status.
- Keet: Mary BykerMary Byker was like an excited puppy and scuttled around the place endearing himself to everyone.
- Large Ham: Al, both off and onstage.
- Lead Bassist: Paul Barker, being the only other official member of Ministry.
- Like an Old Married Couple: Al and Paul
- Manchild: Many, with Al being the king of it.
- Mood-Swinger: Al... just Al. His opinions of other people fluctuate just as rapidly.
- Mood Whiplash
- Nice Guy: Quite a few, actually: Luc van Acker, Paul Barker, Mary Byker, Sean Joyce, Ian MacKaye, Frankie Nardiello, Nivek Ogre, Paul Raven, Bill Rieflin, Mike Scaccia, Louis Svitek, William Tucker, and the members of KMFDM, for instance.
- The '90s: The setting of the rest of the book
- The Not-Love Interest: Chris' romantic relationships always take a backseat to his friendship with William Tucker. He describes their first meeting as Love at First Sight and the book ends not long after Tucker's suicide.
- Obfuscating Stupidity: Phildo Owen acts like The Ditz, but is smarter than he appears.
- One-Steve Limit: Averted—there are at least two Williams (Rieflin and Tucker); two Jims (Thirlwell and Nash); two Pauls (Barker and Raven); two Chrises (Bruce and Connelly) and three Michaels (Balch, Scaccia, and World)
- Only Known by Their Nickname: The engineers, the Poodle and the Princessnote ; another engineer, Fluffynote ; a set designer, Angry Baby; one of Chris' girlfriends, Vogue...
- Only Sane Men: Luc van Acker, Paul Barker, Dannie Flesher, and Bill Rieflin, at least compared to everyone else.
- Pointy-Haired Boss: Far too many of the tour managers, particularly the cocaine-addicted manager of the first Pigface tour.
- Ragtag Bunch of Misfits: Everyone in the book, naturally.
- Rage Against the Mentor: Everything after the end of producing "Linger Ficken' Good… and Other Barnyard Oddities" and the postscripts.
- Record Producer: Steve Albini is the Invisible Producer, Al and Paul are the DIY.
- Red Oni, Blue Oni: A textbook case with Al (the red) and Paul and Bill (the blue).
- The Reliable Ones: Paul and Bill again
- Sarcastic Devotee: Steve Albini to Martin Atkins and Bill Rieflin, after the founding of Pigface.
- Self-Deprecation:In hindsight, how could she resist a chain-smoking morose Scottish drunk who had not showered for days, and who was slumped on a sofa acting like he was the second coming of Peter O' fucking Toole?
- Sex, Drugs, and Rock & Roll: Goes without saying.
- "Shaggy Dog" Story: Many.
- Shrinking Violet: Nivek Ogre, surprisingly enough.
- Smug Snake: Richard 23 is probably the biggest.
- The Stoner/Erudite Stoner: Pretty much everyone is one or the other.
- The Svengali: Both Al and Martin Atkins verge on this trope, though neither of them is as good at it as they want to be.
- Take That!: Too many to list. Mostly toward Front 242, Martin Atkins, and Terry Bones.
- This Is Going to Be Huge: Al's predictions for the Revolting Cocks and/or Ministry's success never quite materialize.
- Those Two Guys: Frankie Nardiello and Marston Daley, as well as the two crew members Connelly refers to as "the Poodle and the Princess."
- Through the Eyes of Madness
- To Absent Friends: Postscripts 2 and 3.
- Token Evil Teammate: Terry Bones, during the Mind tour, especially after he sexually assaulted a fan during the Mind tour.
- Tragic Bromance: Connelly's relationship with William Tucker. So very much.
- Ugly Guy, Hot Wife: Terry Bones and his wife.
- Verbal Tic: Al uses "man" so often it slides into this trope.
- Violent Glaswegian: Averted, though that might be because Connelly is actually from Edinburgh.
- Vitriolic Best Buds: Al and almost all of his collaborators. Martin Atkins is also very much the Vitriolic Best Bud of the other members of Pigface.
- Wacky Fratboy Hijinx: It's a rock memoir, so it's only to be expected.
- Yandere: Mike Scaccia's knife-wielding stalker in New Orleans on the Psalm 69 tour.
- Yes-Man: Al has quite a few throughout the book, who live to take his abuse. Phildo Owen gets the most page time out of them.